Tommy Sharpe is a transformation manager for the National Grid, and is also a part of the Just Love Network. Recently, he started writing about faith, politics, and social justice. Read on to find out how he is defending nature through who he banks with, and how you can too.
I have been a member of Just Love, a movement that encourages Christians to engage in social justice, for a number of years. At one of their conferences, I heard the JustMoney movement talk about bank switching in relation to the climate crisis.
They spoke about how many traditional banks invest heavily in fossil fuels and weapons. They explained how easy it would be for someone like me to switch to a bank that didn’t do that.
As a half-South African, half-British man, I have tried to learn about apartheid – why it happened, and how it was eventually dismantled. One of the conclusions I’ve come to is that divestment and boycotts do work, particularly boycotts within the financial system.
Campaigners worked to persuade Barclays to withdraw from South Africa for over a decade. They disrupted annual general meetings, campaigned to close branches on student campuses and persuaded individual and institutional investors to close their accounts. In 1986, Barclays withdrew from South Africa.
What JustMoney were saying resonated with what I had learned about bank boycotts in South Africa, so I decided I was going to make the switch. I moved across to Triodos using the government’s switching service, which meant all my direct debits and any payments into my old account were automatically redirected to my new one. Encouraged by the ease of this, I also decided to log into my pension account and switch that to a divested fund.
These felt like small actions to me, but I was encouraged by this quote from Desmond Tutu, one of the significant Christian leaders in the anti-apartheid movement, ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world’.
Why not join us for a joint webinar with the JustMoney Movement?
‘Greening our finances: practical steps for Eco Churches’ takes place on Tuesday 7 October, 12.30-1.45pm. It’s aimed at Eco Churches but could provide helpful information for Wild Christians and help you to influence the way your church manages its money. It will look at choosing a greener bank account, investing in climate solutions and getting your congregation involved in campaigning for a greener, fairer financial system. There will be speakers from A Rocha UK, Operation Noah and the JustMoney Movement. Find out more and book your place here.
